Electromagnetic relay



April 11,1939, B, KNS 2,154,338

' ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY Filed Aug. '7, 1937 JW w54/ raf? 6,5. JfnsPatented Apr. 1l, 1939 PATENT 'OFFICE ELECTROMAGNETIC DELAY Gunnar BrgeEindhoven, Netherlands,

alllgnor to N. V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken, Eindhoven, NetherlandsApplication August 7, 1937, serial No. 151.995

InGe

6Clalml.

My invention relates to electromagneticrelays of the type in which aplurality of contact members are arranged in a stack and separated byinsulating members.

' 5 In such relays it is the usual practice to hold these memberstogether with screws extending through holes therein. Buchconstructions, however, have the disadvantages that the strips areweakened to some extent by the holes, and that o it is` dimcult toelectrically insulate the strips from each other and from the screwswhile obtaining along leakage 'path.

'I'he object of my invention is to eliminate the above disadvantages andto provide a simple and inexpensive construction for holding the stacktogether.

In accordance with the invention, I clamp the stack together undercompression by means of V a member extending on the outside. Since themembers of the stack are not perforated, the leakage path between theindividual members can be given a 4greater length, whereby the danger ofarcing over is reduced and the relay m'ay be used for higher tensions.

5 Furthermore, I provide means to ensure that the contact members willbe ilrmly held in their correct positions.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into enect, I shall describe the same in more detail withreference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a front view vof a relay according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line 2--2 of Figs. 3 and 4 areperspective views of insulating strips shown in Fig. 1, and,

Fig. 5 is an exploded view showing portions of Fig.' l.

The relay shown in Figs. l and 2 comprises a coil i mounted upon a corehaving a strip portion 4 to which is secured a support i0. An armature 2is pivoted onthe end of strip 4 and is held in its open'position asshown by one end of a leaf spring I5 whose other end is xed in a mannerlater to be described.

Mounted upon support i0 in a manner later to be described,` are threeamature springs 5,: l. and 1, two break tongues I1 and il, and a makespring I9 supported by a strip 20A.k

' Carried by armature Ik is a strip oi insulating material having crossmembers l2i which engage the bottom of armature springs 5, I and 1 toactuate the same. This construction is illustrated and claimed in mycopending U. S, patent many September 11, 193.6

application Ser. No. 157,996, filed August 7, 1937, jnow Patent No.2,134,448

In accordance with the present invention, armature springs 5, 8, 1 andi0, tongues i1 and il, and strip 20 together with suitable insulatingmembers are held in a stack by means which surround these members andhold same under pressure. For this purpose a clamper clip l in the formof a metal strip surrounds the. stack with its ends extending throughholes in support i0 and bend over (see Fig. 2). A bend member i8 ofresilient metal serves to supply the necessary comprssion in the stack.

'I'he springs and tongues are insulated from each other and from strip lby strips of insulating material, which are provided with notchescooperating with the clamp. As shown in Fig. 2, sprin'g 5 is insulatedfrom tongue I1 by two insulating strips 8' and I2.

strip s is provided with two notches n which 20.

cooperate with clamp 9, and two apertures I3 (Fig. 3). Strip i2 issimilar in shape to strip il but is thinner and is not providedwith'apertures (Fig. 4) As shown in Fig. 5, spring i is provided withtwo small punched protuberances i4 which cooperate with apertures Il tothereby prevent slipping of the springs. As insulating strip I2 is solidthere will be an extremely long leakage path between springs 5 and i1.

Springs 1 and i8 are insulated from each other 30 in the above describedmanner, whereas in the other cases the same principle is used but thenumber and thickneses of the insulating strips vary. At the bottom ofthe stack are an insulating strip I, and an insulatingv strip 2l whichis similar to strip i2 but is extended to support terminals for theleads of coil I.

It will be noted that the stack construction illustrated is simple andall parts can be formed by stamping, and that the spring member i6 en-40 sures that the stack will be ilrmly held under compression.

While I .have described my invention in connection with specic examplesand applications, I do not wish to be limited thereto but desire theappended claims to be construed as broadly as permissible in view of theprior art.

what Iclahn is:

1. In a'relay, a plurality of contact members arranged in a stack, andmeans to compressively hold said members together comprising acompression spring' pressing said members together in the stackingdirection.

2. In a relay, a plurality of contact members and insulating membersarranged in a stack, and

means to compressively hold said members together comprising a U-shapedstrip extending on the outside of the stack, and a compressionspringbetween said strip and stack and pressing said members together in thestacking direction.

3. In a relay, a plurality of contact members and insulating membersarranged in a stack, and means to compressively hold said memberstogether comprising a U-shaped strip extending on the outside of thestack, and a curved metal plate arranged in the'stack and exerting apressure on the stack in the stacking direction.

4. In a relay, a plurality of contact members and insulating members,said contact members and insulating members being arranged in a stackwith one of the insulating members at one end of the stack, and means tocompressively hold said members together comprising a clamping memberarranged outside the stack, and a concave metal spring arranged betweensaid clamping member and stack with its convex side in contact with theend insulating member.

5. In a, relay, a plurality of strip-shaped contact members andinsulating members arranged in a stack, said insulating 4members beingprovided with apertures at a point within the stack and said contactmembers being provided with protuberances snugly engaging saidapertures, and means to compressively hold said members togethercomprising a U-shaped strip extending around the stack, and acompression spring pressing the members together in the stackingdirection.

6. In a relay, a plurality of contact members and interposed insulatingmembers, said members being arranged in a stack with one of theinsulating members at one end, said contact members being provided at apoint within' the stack with ballshaped protuberances snugly engagingapertures in said insulating members to align the members, and means tocompressively hold said members together comprising a U- shapedstriparranged around the stack, and a curved metal spring between said stripand the stack 8nd bearing upon the end insulating member with the apexof its convex side.

`GUNNAR BRGE KNs.

